Steuben’s going mobile

After I chatted yesterday with Josh Wolkon of Steuben’s and Vesta, he kindly forwarded me an article from the travel section of the Los Angeles Times about the sudden, fierce boom in food trucks that has gripped the foodie Shangri La of Portland. That city now has about 400 trucks,…

Top ten ways we’ve ruined turkey

Admit it: There are really only two good ways to enjoy Thanksgiving turkey: fresh from the oven and carved on the table on the big day itself, and on sandwiches for days on end afterward. Everything else is more or less a sociological experiment — a study, perhaps, on just…

Chef and Tell with James Rugile of Venue

Head down 32nd Avenue in Highland, and you’re likely to find 25-year-old James Rugile in the kitchen at Venue, turning out some of the most incredibly delicious food in Denver (if you haven’t tried Rugile’s shrimp and grits, go now). The studious young chef, who grew up in Basalt and…

Il Posto now serving lunch

Last month, chef/owner Andrea Frizzi told Jason Sheehan that he’d soon be serving lunch at Il Posto, his excellent Italian restaurant at 2011 East 17th Avenue. And now he’s made good on that promise: Il Posto opened for lunch this week. It could be just the place to get an…

Tonight: Get lit at Mezcal and Rockbar

Kick off the holiday season tonight at the annual Lighting of Mezcal. The restaurant at 3230 East Colfax Avenue will light up at 7 p.m. — but you can get lit on the restaurant’s award-winning margaritas during two extended happy hours, which will run from noon until 7 p.m. and…

Argyll goes gastropubbin’

It worried me that Argyll is located in a subterranean address in Cherry Creek — which seems to almost always doom any restaurant to a slow, lingering death. It worried me that this particular subterranean address used to be the home of the Squealing Pig: a terrible excuse for an…

Short-lived Grazio Italian Grill & Bar to become Blue Rox Grill

The website doesn’t give away any clues, but the very visible public notice sign is plunged deep into the dirt in front of the former Grazio Italian Grill & Bar space at 9271 Park Meadows Drive. According to the wooden post, that restaurant, which lasted about as long as a…

Ten celebrity chefs and the foods that should be thrown at them

If you’ve never read Anthony Bourdain’s infamous post on Michael Ruhlman’s blog eviscerating Food Network stars and proposing theoretical Iron Chef matches, please do so now. It’s one of the funniest bits of food writing out there. So when I read that Paula Deen got an accidental pork facial during…

Ask The Critic: What’s on your bookshelf?

I tore through Jonathan Safran Foer’s book, Eating Animals, and then sat back and watched the weak-willed and easily influenced suddenly declare their vegetarian sovereignty with a blood-streaked smile on my face and a bloody rare cheeseburger in my hand. Novella Carpenter’s Farm City was one of the best food…

Guess where I’m eating?

Talk about a warming trend! We’re heading into the holiday season, a time of red and green chile cheeseburgers. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Every Friday, anyone who gave the first correct answer to any of the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts will be entered in…

Behind the bar with Erin Clark at Jax

Erin Clark used to work in the advertising industry; today you’ll find him behind the bar at Jax, at 1539 17th Street in Lodo. And although he hasn’t won any bartending awards, “my family really, really likes me,” he says. “I think.” Now serving: Erin Clark…

Canned pumpkin becomes an endangered species this holiday season

Is this the apocalypse or what? Last week, Eggo devastated Jason Sheehan, school children and bachelors everywhere by reporting that a massive waffle shortage was taking place. And now Libby’s and Nestle have put the kibosh on their canned pumpkin production for the rest of the year. That’s right. No…

100 Favorite Dishes: Burrata from Osteria Marco

As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com. Number 91: Burrata from Osteria Marco…

Restaurant Kevin Taylor snags Denver’s only Forbes Four Star rating

Kevin Taylor’s eponymous restaurant has attained Denver’s first Forbes (formerly Mobil) Travel Guide Four Star rating, making it into the first round of 2010 winners named since the Mobil brand moved to Forbes. The Forbes Travel website describes the insane criteria process for rating hotels, spas and restaurants, which sounds…

Jay Spickelmier out at Jing

Back in September, during the Mile High Chef Competition at Dish-the Westword menu affair, Jay Spickelmier went knife-to-knife against Argyll GastroPub chef Sergio Romero in a spirited battle to see who would saunter away with the Pillsbury Doughboy-esque statue of distinction. At the time, Spickelmier, who emerged victorious, was the…

Sweet talk with Hi Rise Bakery’s Sammy Marquez

Boy, are our cheeks pink. Turns out that our guy in Paramus can only lay claim to the bagel and some pastry recipes baked at Hi Rise, 2162 Larimer Street. Head baker Sammy Marquez is the on-site, flesh-and-blood man behind many of the sweets, including several that we featured on…

Tonight: Soup’s on at the Kitchen Table

Learn how to prepare warm winter meals at “The Secrets of Soups: Legumes,” a class that will offer up recipes for white bean and cheddar soup, Appaloosa bean medley soup, and charred minestrone. The lesson runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. tonight at the Kitchen Table, 5375 Landmark Place in…

Mark & Isabella bites the dust

The phone kicks callers over to a cheery-voiced hostess talking about the hours of operation and the happy-hour specials, but take a cruise by the website and the news is very plain, typed out in black against a plain background. “mark & isabella has closed its doors” That’s all there…

Culinary calendar for the week ahead

As always, our online Food & Drink listings contain dozens of culinary events across Colorado, including where to eat Thanksgiving dinner if you don’t feel like cooking but still want to feast. A taste of what’s ahead:…

Update: Ondo’s opens today

That picture there? That’s what Ondo’s looked like a few weeks ago. The space at 250 Steele Street was still coming together, and even as recently as last week, there was no set menu because no one on staff had actually been able to get into the kitchen to cook…